Tire bead spreader



Oct. l2, 1948. H. T. KRAFT TIRE BEAD SPREADER 3 Sheets-Shes t 1 Filed NOV. 30, 1945 www 7" ATTORNEY Oct. 12, 1948. H. T. KRAFT 2,451,097

TIRE BEAD SPREADER Filed Nov. 50, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 I" 3 46 INVENTOR. -7 Herman T. Kraft ATTORNE Oct. 12, 1948. H. T. KRAFT TIRE BEAD SPREADER 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed NOV. 30. 1945 NVENTOR. Hrman T. Kraft Patented Oct. 12, 1948 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TIRE BEAD SPREADER Application November 30, 1945, Serial N0. 631,883

11 Claims.

This invention relates to tire bead spreaders particularly applicable to tires of large sizes and designed to facilitate the assembly with a tire casing of retread vulcanizing apparatus of the type employing a ring mold and an inilatable core.

The invention has for an object to provide a bead spreader which is so constructed and arranged that a retread ring mold and its associated core members may be conveniently assembled with the tire casing mounted in the spreader.

.A further object of the invention is to provide a spreader which has means for supporting the ring mold in a position in which it can be conveniently placed upon a tire casing mounted in the spreader.

A further object of the invention is to provide a spreader which supports the tire casing with its beads spread apart and with the opening at one side of the casing unobstructed so that core members may be conveniently inserted in the tire casing.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a bead spreader that is applicable to tires of different sizes.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a bead spreader in which manually controlled uid pressure operated means is employed for exerting a pull on the beads to spread the same.

With the above and other objects in View, the invention may be said to comprise the bead spreader as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, hereinafter described and particularly set forth in the appended claims, together with such f variations and modifications thereof as will be apparent to one skilled in the art to which the invention pertains.

Reference should be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a spreader embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on the line indicated at 2-2 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the spreader;

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of one of the tire engaging discs;

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the spreader, and

Figs. 6 and 7 are side and front elevations respectively of one of the bead engaging rings employed to engage the tire casing interiorly on the side opposite that engaged by the disc.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, the machine of the present invention is mounted upon a frame having a at base I carrying a vertical front end plate 2. The top edge ofthe front plate y2 is formed on the arc of .a circle of large radius and has a reinforcing member in the form of a tube 3 bent to arcuate form and attached to the top edge of the plate 2. The

opposite ends of the tube 3 are vertically dis- Y posed and provide laterally spaced standards 4 and 5 at the front end of the frame.

The base I carries an elongated centrally disposed track or way which extends at right angles to the plane of the front plate 2. This track is composed of an inverted channel 6 attached to the base plate I and having angle bars 'I attached to its opposite sides. The angle bars 'I have outwardly projecting anges 8 flush with the top of the channel 6 upon which a carriage 9 is mounted. The carriage 9 has pairs of rollers I0 and II at each of its four corners which vengage with the upper and under sides of the flanges 8. The carriage 9 is of inverted U- shape and forms a housing for a fluid pressure cylinder I2 which is attached to the channel 8 by means of bolts I3. The cylinder I2 extends longitudinally of the channel 6 and has a piston I4 provided with a rod I5 that is attached to a cross plate I6 at the rear end of the carriage 9. Fluid under pressure applied to the front face of the piston I4 moves the carriage 9 rearwardly on the track and pressure applied to the rear face of the piston I4 moves the carriage forwardly. Operating pressure is applied to the cylinder I2 through pipes II and I8 that are connected to a valve I9 mounted on the standard 4 which is connected to a suitable source of air or other fluid under pressure by means of a pipe 20.

The carriage 9 carries a vertically disposed tubular standard 2l that is rigidly attached to the carriage and braced by means of triangular webs 22 and 23. The standard 2I supports an upper tubular section 24 attached to a tubular connecting member 25 that telescopes into the tubular sections of the standard and which is rigidly attached by suitable means such as pins 26 and 2'I to the two sections. The upper and lower sections of the standard are spaced apart by the connecting member 25 and the portion of the connecting member 25 between the standard sections provides a bearing for a collar 28 which carries radial arms 29 having discs 39 attached to their outer ends by suitable means such as nuts 3 I.

A plurality of arms 29 are provided so that discs of different diameters may be mounted upon the arms for engagement with tire casings.

The discs 30 are readily detachable so that they can be quickly and easily replaced with discs of other sizes. The discs 39 are inserted into the opening in one side oi a pneumatic tire casing and are of a diameter slightly greater than the internal bead diameter so that the beads of the tire casing can be engaged interiorly by periph eral portions of the disc. In order to facilitate the insertion of the discs into a tire casing, the discs are preferably provided with a dat segment 32 so that the discs will readily enter the tire casing when the casing is disposed at a small angle with'respect to thediscs.

The standard 2l carries lat its upper end a horizontal forwardly extending arm 33 that is somewhat longer than the radial arms 29 and this arm provides a support for a suitable hoisting device for lifting a tire cas-ing to a position where it can be engaged by one of the Vdiscs 3Q.'

The arm 33 carries a pulley 34 at its outer end `and a pulley 35 yat its inner end. A hoist cable 3B runs over the pulleys 34 and 35 under a movable pulley 3T and is attached to an I-bolt3'8 attached to the under side of the arm 33. The pulley 371 is connected to the piston of a vertically yd-isposed fluid pressure cylinder 39 that is attached 'to the standard 2l. When the pulley 3i is pulled downwardly lby actuation of 'the cylinder 39 the cable depending from the pulley 34 `is moved upwardly. The cable 36 has a suitable hook 49 for engagement with a tire casing and lis adapted to suspend the tire casing at the level of the rotatably mounted radial arms 29 so that one of the discs 3U can be inserted into the `tire casing. The cable 36 and hook 40 permit the tire casing to be easily turned about a vertical axis and to be moved bodily toward or away from'the standard 2l so that the operator may hold the casing in a position such that a disc '30 may be entered into the casing as it is swung outwardly to a position vdirectly in front of the standard. The cylinder 39 is operated by fluid under pressure delivered to pipes lll and i2 that extend to a manually operated control valve 'Q3 mounted on the standard 2lV and connected through a pipe 4Q anda flexibleV hose l5 to a 'pressure pipe i9 mounted on the base I.

The tubular front standards d and have T- heads 41 at their upper ends in which are supported forwardly projecting horizontal shafts 138 upon which sleeves 49 are .rotatably mounted. The sleeves R9 have tubular arms 59 rigidly attached thereto and braced by means of webs 5l. A .rod 52 .is telescopically connected with .each arm 50 and .provides an ,adjustable extension for the arm, each of the rods 52 being held against turning movements in the tubular arm 59 `by means of a pin 53 that slides in a longitudinal slot 54 .in the tubular arm 59. At their outer ends each of the rods 52 has a hook 55 connected thereto by a pivot 56. The arms 50 are normally Vsuspended in vertical position as vshown dotted lines in Fig. 1 and are adapted to be swung to a horizontal pos-ition in which the hooks 55 are disposed alongside diametrically opposite por-- tions of a tire bead. Y

A ring 51 of a diameter slightly -greater than the diameter of the opening in the side of the tire casing to be spreadis employedrfor engaging the tire beads on the front side of the casing. Rings 57 of various diameters are provided to accommodate tires having openings of different diameters and each ring has a flattened or .reentrant rsegment 58 which facilitates the entry of the ring into the tire by turning the ring at @El 4 angle to the opening and inserting the ring edgewise into the casing.V Each ring '51 is provided with outwardly projecting tabs 59 that are rigidly attached to diametrically opposite portions of the ring and which are adapted to project through the tire opening when the ring is posi-VV tioned withinrthe tire. Y*The*t a};\s,f5 9 are provided with openings @El to receivejth'e lironl'zfsgi carried by the pivoted arms onthe'standard's 4 and 5.

When not in operation the carriage 9 is supported in its forward position and the arms 59 hang vertically in front of the standards 4 and 5. With the parts in this position the hool lll is engaged with the tire casing on the floor in front of thek machine and the valve i3 is operated to admit pressure to the cylinder 39, causing the tire to be hoisted to a position in which its axis is substantially at a level with the radial arms 29. With the tire suspended'in this position it can be readily manipulated to place one of the Ydiscs 3@ inside the tire leasing, after which a ring 5ll'Yof the proper sizeis irl--Y serted in the opening at the..front of the tire casing and engaged with the hooks 5510i 'the ,arms 59, as shown Yin Fig. 3. rIlhe hook 4U iis then detached from the tire casing which is then supported by the disc 39 and yring' 5i. The valve I9 is then actuated to y'adm-it fluid `under prssure to the cylinder l2 to move the carriage 9 and standardV 2l rearwardly, causing the disc 3E to exert an inward pull on the inner tire bead of the tire casing to move the same inwardly away from the outer tire bead which is anchored by the ring 51. y' j The length of the radial arms 29"is such'th'at there is room between the disc 39 and the standard 2| to hang a'ring mold El; Whenv the beads' of the casing have been spread `apart the ktread diameter ofA the casinguwillv have beenrreducved suiiiciently lto permit the ring mold Si .to be placed over the periphery of theltirev casing,r .to which a layer of 4retread stock has previously been applied.

As shown in Fig. 3, the outer opening lo'f the tire casing Vis substantially unobstructed when the Icasing is supported in the spreader, so that an air bag 92 andan air bag supporting ring 9.3 can be readily inserted into the interior ofthe tire casing through the front Yopening thereof. After the ring mold and the core memberai e. the air bag and Asupporting ring have been .assembled withthe tire casing, the vpressure .in the Vcylinder EZ may be .relieved .to -allow the icarriage to vmove forwardlyand the inner bead of thev tire .casing toV move forwardly towardv the .tire bead at :the front rsidefof the casi-ng.. As the tire beads move together the tire ycasing expands into the ring mold and the side walls of the casing move inwardly against` the -air bag.

After the pull on the tire casing is released the yhacks 55V are disengaged fromthe .ring 51 and the hook 30 again engaged with the Aouter bead of the tire casing, aff-ter which the ring 5! and the disc 39 are removed fromthe interiorA of the :casi-ng and the casing assembled with l:the vulcanizing mold elements may be readily transferred to the vulcanizing station.V v

vulcanizing mold elements which lcomprises a pair of frontsupports spaced apart a distance greater than the bead diameter of a tire casing, a rear tire bead engaging niembe;` mounted rearwardly of said supports, a front tire bead engaging ring, means for connecting diametrically opposite portions of said ring to said supports so as to provide an unobstructed opening to the interior of the tire casing through said ring, and means for moving said rear bead engaging member rearwardly relative to said supports to spread the tire casing.

2. A tire spreader for use in assembling tire casings with 'interior and exterior retread vulcanizing mold elements which comprises a 'pair of front ysupports s-paced apart a distance greater than the bead diameter of a tire casing, ia rear tire supporting member having tire bead engaging means thereon, said supporting member having a .portion upon which a ring mold may be supported and from which it may be moved over the tire bead engaging means onto the tire casing, a front tire bead engaging ring, means for connecting diametrioally opposite portions of said ring to said supports vso as to provide an unobstructed opening to the interior of the tire casing through said ring, and means for moving said rear bead engaging member rearwardly relative to said supports to spread the tire casing.

3. A tire bead spreader for use in assembling tire casings with interior and exterior retread vulcanizing mold elements which comprises a pair of laterally spaced front standards spaced apart a distance greater than the bead -diameter of the tire casing, a standard mounted rearwardly of the front standards .and movable forwardly and rearwardly relative to said front standards, a rear tire bead engaging annulus, a front tire bead engaging ring, means for connecting said annui-us to the rear standard and for supporting a ring mold between the annulus and standard, mean-s connecting diametrically opposite portions of said ring to said front standards to provide -an unobstructed opening through the ring t-o the interior of the tire casing, and means for shifting the rear standard relative to the front standards to spread the beads of a tire casing and to support the casing in a position to facilitate the mounting of the ring mold on the tire tread and the insertion of core mem-bers through said ring into the interior of the mold.

4. A tire bead spreader for use in assembling tire casings with interior -and exterior retread vulcanizing mold elements which comprises a pair of laterally spaced front standards spaced apart a -distance greater than lthe bead diameter of the tire casing, -a standard mounted rearwardly of the front standards 'and movable forwardly and rearwardly relative to said front stan-dards, an arm attached to said rear stand-ard of a length to receive a retread ring mold and to support the same alongside the standard, a disc attached to the outer end of said -arm for interiorly engaging a tire bead, a ring for interiorly engaging the opposite bead of a tire, means connecting diametricalli7 opposite portions of said ring to `said front standards so as to provide an unobstructed front opening to the interior of the casing through said ring, and means for shifting said rear standard relative to said front standards to spread the tire beads.

5. A tire bead spreader comprising a .pair of laterally spaced stationary standards, a carriage mounted for horizontal linear travel in a direction at right angles to a line connecting said standards, a standard fixed to said carriage, two annuli adapted to' be inserted in a tire casing and engageable with the interior of the casing along the margins of the bea-d openings, means connecting one of said annuli to the stationary standards and the other :annuli to the movable standard, and means for actuating said carriage to spread a tire casing.

6. A' tire bead spreader comprising a pair of laterally spaced stationary standards, a carriage mounted for horizontal linear travel in -a direction at righ-t yangles to a line connecting said standards, a's'tandard xed to said carriage, two annuli adapted to be inserted in a tire casing and engageable with the interior of the casing along the margins of the bead openings, means connecting one of said annuli tothe stationary standards and the other annuli to the movable standard, and -a uid pressure cylinder connected to said carriage to ao'tuate the same.

7. A tire bead spreader comprising a frame having a base provided with a longitudinal way and a .pair of lateral-ly space-d stationary standards carried by said base at one end, a carriage mounted :to travel on said way, a lstan-dard fixed to said carri-age, a Apair of annuli engageable interiorly with opposite bea-d portions of a tire, means for connecting one of said annuli to said stationary standards an-d the other of said annuli to the movable standard, and a fluid pressure cylinder on said base for actuating said carriage.

8. A tire bead spreader comprising a frame having a base provided with a longitudinal way and a pair of laterally spaced stationary standards carried by said base at one end, a carriage mounted to travel on said way, a movable standard on said carriage, a horizontal arm on said movable standard, a disc carried by said arm for engagement interiorly with one side of a tire casing, a ring engageable interiorly with the opposite side of a tire casing, means for connecting said ring to the stationary standards, and a fluid pressure cylinder for actuating said carriage.

9. A tire bead spreader comprising a pair of laterally spaced stationary standards, a carriage mounted for linear travel at right angles to a line connecting said standards, a movable standard 0n said carriage disposed centrally with respect to the fixed standards, a collar rotatably mounted on said standard, a radial arm carried by said collar, a disc detachably connected to said arm and engageable interiorly with one side of a tire casing, a ring engageable interiorly with the opposite side of a tire casing and having diametrically opposite portions adapted to project through the side opening of the tire casing, means including hooks engageable with said projecting portions for connecting said ring to said stationary standards, and a fluid pressure cylinder for actuating said carriage.

10. A tire bead spreader comprising a pair of laterally spaced stationary standards a carriage mounted for linear travel at right angles to a line connecting said standards, amovable standard on said carriage disposed centrally with respect to the xed standards, a collar rotatably mounted on said standard, a radial arm carried by said collar, a disc detachably connected to said arm and engageable interiorly with one side of` a tire casing, a ring engageable interiorly with the opposite side of a tire casing and having diametrically opposite portions adapted to project through the side opening of the tire casing, an arm pivoted to each stationary standard and movable to a horizontal position in the space be- 7 tween the standards, mookscarried by said arms iur engagement with the vprojecting :poni-,ions of said ing, :and Vmeans for actuating vsaid lcarriage tospreada tire easing engaged by said edi-sc and ring. Y 1

11. .A tire bead Aspreader comprising a pair of Iateraiiy .spaced front standards, `each having .a forwardly extending horizontal :shaft attached thereto, A'an-extensible arm pivoted-on each shaft, a hook carried :by the free end of l`each -of said arms, a :ring yfor lengagement interiorly with :a tire bead and having diametricaliynpposite projecting tabs for lengagement With Ysaid hooks, means vspaar-:d rearwardly with respect fto Zsaid :standards for interiorly engaging the tire fbeadfoppcste ythat; engaged by ythe ring, 'and means Mforshiting :sa/id y'efrlg'agingimeans rearwardly .relative tocsaidi'stamde Y 'ardsxtospread i'hetmacasing.V Y Y VmEFERENCES CITED.Y f l The following references are ofie'cord in 'lie nie-@finis patent: i

sifsATEs' PMENTSY 

